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Harry Lyles Jr., ESPN Staff Writer
Last year, the Memphis Tigers had a good season that could have been great.
They finished 10-3, with their losses coming to Missouri, a top-10 finisher, as well as SMU and Tulane, the two teams that played in the AAC championship last year.
But there is a new opportunity on the Tigers’ doorstep. The College Football Playoff is expanding to 12 teams in 2024 and the top Group of 5 team will get an automatic bid. In the four-team era, a Group of 5 team had to be both perfect and lucky to have a shot at glory: Only the 2021 Cincinnati squad was able to break into the field. Now, Memphis knows that if it takes care of business, a great season could be right around the corner.
“This offseason, there’s a lot of momentum that occurred right within our program from the bowl game versus Iowa State, to the stadium [renovations], to the NIL,” Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield said. “We’ll look up at the end of the season and see where the cards may fall.”
It’s hard not to be optimistic about what Memphis has put together going into 2024. On paper, the Tigers seemingly have everything in place to win the conference. And in four of the past five seasons under the previous playoff format, the AAC champion has been the New Year’s Six participant as the highest-ranked Group of 5 team.
Most people would agree that success on the football field begins and ends with the quarterback position, and in Seth Henigan, Memphis has one of the most experienced quarterbacks in all of college football. Henigan, who has started since his true freshman season, will be the rare quarterback to start four years at one university. Silverfield said other schools tried to pluck Henigan from his roster last season, but after discussion, it was clear to both sides that nothing needed to change.
“We were very candid with one another, very transparent like him and I have always been,” Silverfield said. “I think loyalty is getting harder to find in college football.”
Speaking of loyalty and continuity: Silverfield is in his ninth year at Memphis, having joined Mike Norvell’s staff in 2016 as an offensive line coach.
“Even as an assistant, I said I’m going to be loyal to a place. And Seth and I share that same sentiment. Like, ‘Hey, man, this place can be really good for us if we stick around.’ It was to me and it’s been to him. And I think he sees the fruits of his labor paying off.”
Henigan said the opportunity to leave presented itself after Memphis’ Liberty Bowl victory, but he realized quickly there was no good reason to leave. The lack of turnover across the board at Memphis made it a stable place for him to finish his college career.
“Before that, I had no reason to leave,” Henigan said. “I had a great group of guys around me, my roommates have been here almost my whole time here. Same head coach. He said he was staying. So all my people were staying. My offensive coordinator is back for our third year together. So there was no reason to leave.”
Because Memphis has seen Henigan develop since he was a 17-year-old starter, the expectations in Year 4 are the biggest they’ve ever been, Silverfield said.
“The first year was learning the offense, second year was learning defenses, and then third year was mastering it all and putting the pieces together, and now he needs to take over games.”
Henigan’s not alone on offense. He’s surrounded by more talent than ever before. On the outside, Roc Taylor and Demeer Blankumsee bring back a combined 1,984 receiving yards from 2023. Mario Anderson, who was South Carolina’s leading rusher in 2023, transferred to Memphis in the offseason and will be paired with junior Sutton Smith, who had 457 scrimmage yards last season.
Defensively, Memphis struggled in 2023, ranking 114th in total defense. But of the 19 defenders who started at least one game in 2023, 12 are back. This is a more experienced group, led by linebacker Chandler Martin, who had the most tackles, TFLs and sacks on the team last season.
To shore up the unit, Silverfield hit the portal with intent. Of the 29 transfers Memphis brought in, 20 of them were on the defensive side, including Tennessee’s leading tackler, linebacker Elijah Herring.
“I think having the quarterback and the 1,000-yard receiver announce they’re coming back, and all-conference linebacker, you say, ‘OK, those are the core pieces,'” Silverfield said.
After addressing the team’s top needs (safety and tackle) in the portal, Silverfield went for depth.
“I said, ‘OK, we don’t need to go out and get game changers. But let’s go get some defensive pieces that can [contribute],'” he said. “I think that’s what you’ve got to do, right? I’ve been in the NFL before, and you try to add — people don’t like to use this term — free agents where you can.”
Now that the Tigers have depth, Silverfield thinks they can play their ideal style of ball.
“I want to be a team that comes out and is playing fast and physical for 60 minutes,” he said. “Now, that doesn’t mean we’re South Florida trying to get 90 plays on offense. But it’s droves and droves of these guys just coming up, lining up, hitting [them] on the damn mouth.
“We still want to be a physical brand of football. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be explosive. And I think the biggest thing for us to win games this year, we’ve got to limit the [explosive plays] on defense and continue to be an explosive offense. So if someone’s gonna say, ‘Man, what is this team?’ They’re explosive. But on defense, that doesn’t mean you’re blitzing every play, but being versatile enough to be able to get some stops and do some things.”
Martin said the defense has something to prove this season.
“We’re going by ‘dark side’ this year,” he said. “We’re playing with a chip on our shoulder, playing with an edge, and we’re always the underdogs, no matter who we step on the field with.”
That’s not to say that everything is serious. Martin says that the defense is motivated, but also having a good time.
“We have fun playing. Football is becoming more and more of a business,” he said. “But every day we’re out there laughing, having fun, playing around, flying around, so expect a good product this year.”
A good product would lend itself to that coveted AAC championship, and a playoff appearance.
“I can’t really speak for all my teammates,” Henigan said, “But I know for me personally, it [adds] more fuel to the fire, just being able to play in a College Football Playoff game. … That’s a great opportunity for our whole program.”
But 2024 means more for Memphis than just a potential playoff appearance, and that’s not lost on Silverfield and his team. Memphis has often been brought up in discussions as a team that could potentially make the leap to a power conference. Silverfield said that while he’s focused on the football season, it would “be foolish on my part” to not stay in the loop on the potential for a future conference jump.
“We understand the implications of what it looks like,” he said. “I think if anybody saw what happened in this conference long enough … you see what happens to these other teams in our conference that have invested. I think our school … our administration understands the importance of having successful football. What a playoff berth could do. Competing for championships year in and year out is our best bet to maybe see what else is out there in the ever-changing realignment world. I think none of us sit here and imagine that it’s done.”
But none of that likely matters if Memphis doesn’t handle business this season. And despite their seemingly full arsenal, the path will not be easy. Road games against Florida State, USF, UTSA and Tulane will make Memphis grind to earn its way to the playoff.
“The implications are there, for both the university and for myself,” Henigan said. “It all comes down to this season. That’s kind of my mindset. It’s the culmination of three years.
“And now we’re turning that corner and we’re the team to beat.”
